New reality show to focus on Miss Venezuela contest

The strict diets, the physical exercise regimen, the speech classes and the discussions among the participants of the Miss Venezuela contest are the things that the public will be able to view starting this week on a new reality show where the 24 candidates for this year's celebrated beauty pageant will be selected and prepared.

On national television and cable TV starting on Monday, those who have always wanted to know "the truth" and the secrets of preparing the women for the contest will be able to watch "Todo por la corona" (Everything for the crown), an experiment bringing to the small screen the celebrated and criticized competition.

The TV show promises to present what before was almost a secret ingredient of the success of the contest, the severe training routine that that could only be imagined via the gossip that leaked out of the "Miss Venezuela Mansion," where the young ladies are prepared.

"Reality shows have become very much the fashion and since the Miss Venezuela contest is such an important one something very interesting and attractive for the public has been achieved," contest president Osmel Sousa, known in Venezuela as the "Beauty Czar," told Efe.

Out of the well-known Venezuelan contest, which this year will be held on Oct. 10, have come the country's six Miss Universe winners, six Miss World winners, six Miss Internationals and one Miss Earth.

Now, the contest's strict and organized training system, organizers said, is imitated by other countries in the region who could obtain more training clues from the reality show that will be broadcast by Venevision and the international Sony Entertainment Television network in 15 episodes.

The program will be divided into three parts. In the first, the Miss Venezuela team will be seen traveling around the country to allow 50 young women to try out for the contest, followed by the phase in which 24 candidates are selected and the final phase where the aspiring pageant contestants are trained. EFE